CTA board approves system to reduce bus bunching

CTA riders could see fewer instances of buses arriving at stops in pairs, thanks to CTA board approval Wednesday of a tool that may reduce bus bunching.

The CTA board approved a three-year, $13.4 million contract with Clever Devices, a New York-based transportation technology company with a Chicago office, which is meant to improve communications between the CTA control center and bus drivers.

The system would allow control center workers to see buses bunch in real time and tell bus drivers if they need to slow down on their route or speed up to keep pace with other buses, CTA spokesman Brian Steele said.

Implementation of the system may take up to a year, a CTA official told the board. The contract runs from June 2014 to June 2017.

Bus bunching is one of the top CTA rider complaints. The agency failed to meet its bus-bunching goal for six months last year. The goal is calculated from a matrix and is based on the time between two buses arriving at the same bus stop.